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onna tell a short tale, be slightly annoyed and vocal about things for a little bit.

Just for a minute.

Honest.

I am underemployed. What does that mean? Simple. I don’t work as much as I want or need to, in order to pay my bills and meet my every day needs. Thursday this week will be my second day working of the month and eighth of the year. This is an issue because… well… it should be obvious why that’s an issue. 8 days of work in two months is far from an ideal situation.

But it’s also eight days more than some folks. I’ll take what I can get, though I am still bouncing around on unemployment. But I tell you all that to tell you this.

I got a bite from a place that I used to work at. Talk of a job being open, and they were interested in me. They were, back when I worked there hostile to the union guys in local 814 and those who sided with them (like me), hostile enough to lock them out for ten months and never once tell me or any of the other temps who were trying to get hired on they wanted to hire us despite the fact that they loved our work. Then when they finally signed a new collective bargaining agreement, pushed most of them out the door, and never even thought about bringing any of us former temps back. Of the 44 regulars that were there when the agreement was signed, four are left of that crew.

So when they e-mailed me to indicate their interest, I was overjoyed. I loved working there. It was the best professional experience of my life, and they were the best bunch of guys around, despite the circumstances. Great crew, great place.

Could it be the same way it was back then? Highly unlikely. Hell no would be a more apt way to put it. More likely things would be hard, ugly, and abrasive, and that is being kind in my assessment. But knowing that I was still willing to brook that and make the most of things, and make some money along the way; make my life and my wife’s life that much easier by having regular money coming in, an actual weekly paycheck and knowing I was working for five days a week, sometimes even seven.

Heaven in comparison to where I am now.

But it was not to be. After much back and forth talk with several people in the human resources department of this fine institution, I was told that, sorry, the position has been filled. But thank you for patience!

The position: Temporary property handler, Sotheby’s

A position that was on the nyfa.org site, the site I had found the posting on in the first place.

Freshly re-opened and newly placed on the site, dated today.

Did I mention that they said the position was filled already?

Now I don’t have an issue if they didn’t really want me. Doesn’t bother me overmuch. I have had to handle a boatload of rejection from a boatload of places over the last few years trying to get back on my feet and land a full time permanent job.

I have an issue with them telling me they would like to interview me, then disappearing and not responding to an e-mail I sent in regards to the first e-mail they sent; then saying the woman in charge was busy and could not talk, but drop me a line if you don’t hear anything by the end of the day; then when I do that today they say, sorry, she’s still busy but the position has been filled; then seeing the same position listed as open, the one I wanted to interview for, which I was told was filled open on the same website I had found the previous posting on with today’s date on it, meaning they are still looking for people to fill that position.

THAT is why I am bent out of shape.

I really do try to be professional, but if you don’t want me around, just say so. I can take a hint, really I can.

What I think happened was a simple foul up on their side. I probably have a file there, I’m sure all the temps who worked there before do, and my name like many others probably has a big red flag next to it that says “Pro-Union; do not interview” or “Former employee; do not re-hire” or some such on it and someone missed that and saw my resume and liked it and made a common sense hr decision namely “His resume looks good, let’s see if he can fit here”

But did not see the flag. Can’t blame the kid for that, and I can’t see a possibility of me not ending up angry or confused or both about it no matter what they did. I dislike the fact that…

that…

Well, they led me on. Which is antisocial and rude, bound to get you talked about in all the wrong circles for all the wrong reasons… in a perfect world. Which this clearly isn’t. Or else I wouldn’t even have been looking for work with them, and I would be secure in my finances and in my world.

I’d go to the better business bureau but I don’t know what I’d say, or what they’d say, or if it would matter a damn to them, or anyone but me.

The end. I’d give you a better ending but you only get really good endings in fiction. The real world doesn’t give you the endings you want, you get what you get.

Moral of the story; Expect something, receive nothing is the way of the world.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

That’s it from here, America. See you around sometime. More jobs to look for. There’s one out there for me somewhere.

I haven’t written here in nearly a year. Three hundred and forty eight days, if you include today. I have not been idle in all that time. Some, not all. I have been writing a great deal, some of my best work I think. If you want to read it it’s over on writeisland.wordpress.com; It’s fiction, sci-fi, horror, crime noir, paranoid fiction. Lots of short stories, serialized.

If you enjoy that kinda thing by all means head on over.

I thought it was time to come back here and again write about the real world. The real world is a nice place that has some insanely horrible things happen in it, often because of our own hubris, or stupidity, or insanity, or … something. Things that the best fiction writers could not come up on their best days.

Let’s get started.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

My last post, almost a year ago, was written about the fun things that occur on the Korean peninsula. So why not start where I left off, give you some level of continuity with news coverage.

It seems that Kim Jong-un is committing crimes against humanity. He has between eighty and one hundred and twenty thousand political prisoners held in four locations. He uses starvation as a form of punishment in these prison camps. The system of resource allocation that the DPRK uses causes “avoidable” starvation among the population.

Some media outlets are using the word Nazi in reference to the treatment of the people of North Korea. The head of the UN commission has detailed all the crimes in a downloadable document you can get directly from the U.N. here, and I must tell you it is a compelling read about a place that exactly fits every negative aspect of the word orwellian.

The worst part about this? We know, not just presume they are doing bad things to their people along with Japanese and South Koreans, but know they are doing it. So what happens next?

Nothing.

Not a god damned thing.

Hua Chunying, spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry has called the report “Unreasonable criticism” and the reporting I have read, from the NYT and the VOA, China will veto any action by the U.N. in this matter. According to the NYT, She said “We believe that taking human rights violations to the International Criminal Court is not helpful in improving a country’s human rights situation.”

…Is not helpful…

If that isn’t helpful, if removing the problem by putting the people who are systematically raping and killing it’s own people and starving and torturing those they don’t do that to, what does work? Asking nicely? Saying “Pretty please, with sugar on top?”

Note that in nothing that I have quoted, or seen, they never say that North Korea is innocent. They are saying that, “yes, they are guilty.” But they are also saying “We don’t care what you think, we condone this behavior.”

They sound like criminals protecting other criminals. Because they are. By not helping bring the perpetrators of crimes against humanity to justice, they become guilty of aiding and abetting that criminal activity.

By protecting the North Koreans, the Chinese themselves are guilty of crimes against humanity.

And by being so weak as to not be able to do anything about it, the United Nations proves itself a useless body when it comes to the dispensation of justice on a global level against any real criminal activity.

Crying damn shame. But at the same time I can say that I am happy that I live in a country where those kinda things don’t happen. Because of the eternal vigilance of it’s people.

At least not yet. Today things are fine, but the road ahead is murky, as always.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

I don’t know if I’m back to doing this here every day, but I know I won’t be ignoring it for another 348 days.

In a move that surprises absolutely no one who watches Korean politics with even mild interest, the two again are at each others throats.

In a statement that is even less of a surprise than the two Koreas being at each others throats, The North Koreans claim they have nullified non-aggression agreements with the South Koreans.

In another statement equally as expected given the nature of the relationship between these two nations, A general from the North is claiming that it has nuclear ICBM’s ready to launch.

A counter claim by the South has made the very forseeable claim that if the North uses it’s nukes that Kim Jong-Un would be wiped from the face of the earth.

Now if we could only see how this thing will end.

There are always problems between these two nations, but with the new Kim on the throne in the north, there is a new unpredictability about this once very unsurprising dance these two nations dance with one another.

The experts say that the north doesn’t have the ICBM’s to do what they claim they can do. If they are right then this dance stays predictable, at least it’s ending. Which is that the North and South, for all there bluff and bluster will really not do much of anything and will in the end maybe fight a small skirmish or two and be done with it.

They have threatened the U.S. before and have done it again, this time threatening to blast America and it’s followers into a “sea of fire.”

Like this:

Just in case you weren’t sure, there is such a thing as pointless legislation. Legislation that may make a point in some way shape or form, but does nothing substantive. Such a piece of legislation passed through the House of Representatives with bi-partisan support.

The legislation itself is fairly simple. What it does is orders the President to put in the cost of the deficit, per taxpayer of each years spending. Meaning that if the deficit for the year 2013 is one trillion dollars, and there are 145 million tax returns put in, which is the average, then the President would have to, by law, tell you, dear taxpayer that it costs you an average of around $6896.55

Which is nice, but what can you do with that information? Look at the number and say “Dayum! That’s a lot of money!” That is really about it. It’s sole purpose is to be a reminder that “decisions have real world consequences” says the man who sponsored the legislation, rookie Rep. Luke Messer of Indiana.

It may look to him like it creates an aura of accountability, putting a real number in dollars that an individual can wrap their head around, but it does have an additional consequence. It will show definitively the amount the annual deficit is actually dropping. The annual deficit for this year is expected for the first time since 2007 to be under a trillion dollars. It is supposed to drop to under half a trillion per year by 2015 before going back up due to the cost of all those baby boomers retiring.

The problem with legislation like this is pretty simple. It does nothing. This legislation won’t take away from the deficit, it won’t add jobs, it won’t make America a better place, and points to the way Republicans do things.

They like to draw attention to the things that are happening in the world, while not doing a single solitary thing about them. Mr. Messer is not serving his constituents well here. They would be better served if they had a congressman who tried to get legislation through that does something about the deficit, or job creation, something substantive rather than this cutesy useless crap that does nothing for anyone.

It isn’t the law yet, but I can’t see any reason this silliness wouldn’t become law. It has to get through the Senate, and being innocuous crap, it should not have any issue getting through the Senate and to the White House. It will probably get through the Senate in much the same way it got through the House, by a fairly wide margin.

The cuts that are taking place thanks to sequestration are being reported much of the time in relation to large scale programs. In terms of billions of dollars and the mass effect of the cuts.

But the reality of sequestration is far from what is being reported and being spoken about in the press.

It is instead a story of those in need being forced to go without. The story of thousands of children, special needs children being told to do without. Thousands of parents of autistic children being told their kids can go without the programs that they need to give their kids the things they need to get by every day.

There is a reason I mention that. I have a niece and a nephew, both with autism, both who will be affected. One is turning 11, the other is 8. I spoke to my brother today, in passing. My brother’s son is the eight year old. The boy loves him some Teenage mutant ninja turtles and Spiderman. He loves going to school. He loves his teacher, whose name I forget. Kisses her goodbye every time he leaves school for the day. I’ve been there to pick im up a few times from school.

He is autistic. Without the help from his teachers and the school system, funded by the federal government, he would not be able to get the help he needs.

The other, my cousin’s daughter loves her teachers and her shows and toys as much as my brother’s son does. And she needs them more. Though my eye in these matters is neither precise nor educated, she seems to be more affected by autism than he, and he is not just slightly affected. Speech is affected. As is thought. As is emotional control. As are almost every basic thing we non affected sentient beings take for granted. These kids work on this and more every day, with help from tireless hard-working teachers who give everything they can for these kids.

Apparently one of the first cuts going through in these parts is in education cuts. So they are losing that, only part of it to begin with. Half is what my brother told me when I spoke to him earlier today.

How many times can they turn their heads and pretend that they don’t see?

No.

They know.

They see.

These kids, and by extension “We The People” are pawns in a game of chess played by rich men for the control of the money and power, and of who gets both. Because of that the face of sequestration should not be the face of corporations shutting their doors, bad as that will be when it happens, and it will happen. It is not masses of people made to suffer. That can be refused, propagandized, compartmentalized. Turned into something other. Political will can turn any full grown adult’s pain into something to be looked down on, turned to advantage by the slick marketing of political will.

It is the face of a child asked to go without.

Asked to go without by the protectors of billionaires, by a rich man’s son for no reason other than the greed of adults who should know better.

Like this:

At midnight or thereabouts, the President is expected to sign off on the law putting sequestration into effect. But I wonder why. I honestly do. I do because he doesn’t have to as far as I can tell. It is a law, and like other laws it is bound by the constitution, is it not?

Article I, section 7, final sentence of paragraph two states:

If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

But it begs a few questions. Questions which I do not have answers to.

If the President is expected to sign the Sequester into law, that means it is being presented to him then and there, does it not? Or is there some other timetable that don’t know about that makes that question a moot one?

If it is true that the law is being presented to him today, and the constitution is followed, and he does not sign it, does that not mean that he will have extra time to see if he can work out a deal with the house, where all spending bills must originate?

The President, if he really is serious that he does not want to see these cuts take effect should simply not sign the bill. Which doesn’t mean he won’t.

Now I am not a constitutional scholar, I simply make points that I think need to be made, and ask questions that I think need to be asked.

Like this:

It’s all over but the shouting. The sequester will go through tomorrow. Now we won’t feel the effects immediately and that might make some people downplay the sequestration process. That would be silly, as silly as acting like it’s the end of the world. It’s neither. But it will hurt the economy if it is allowed to go on unabated.

But even though sequestration kicks in tomorrow at 11:59 pm, the sequestration legislation news is not over, not by a long shot. Much of the negative effect of the sequester can be done away with after it kicks in, which will guarantee more news about this subject from a legislative angle until some good middle ground between the two parties can be had. Just like any other law, it can be changed, altered, even repealed should the need arise. And I can think of no better thing to change, alter and even repeal than the sequestration.

And the effect could be almost completely ameliorated if fixed quickly. If the congress gets on this next week, if not next week then relatively quickly then the sequester will have had almost no impact. Not no impact, almost. There have already been effects.

The aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman is supposed to be on duty in the Persian gulf right now, but has been held in port thanks to the sequester. It was actually supposed to have been there for a few weeks but has been held here until the sequester is dealt with.

Hundreds of illegal immigrants have been freed thanks to the sequester. OK, technically it’s a work release program, but they are out of jail.

But the amount of veteran funerals at Arlington national cemetery, which will with sequestration be cut from 31 a day to 24, could be kept to a minimum if congress works on this next week. As could the furloughing of thousands of federal employees, and all the other cuts to spending in all facets of government, military and non military alike.

The congress is not in session tomorrow, which is why there is no chance of sequestration being avoided.

Any chance of avoiding that fate went out the window today when both the Republican and Democratic sequester replacements were voted down in the Senate. The Republican replacement bill lost 38-62, and the Democratic replacement lost 51-49. Yes, a majority vote lost. Sad that in American politics today, a vote that normally would be enough to win couldn’t because Harry Reid didn’t have the nerve to alter the Senate rules so it could actually get work done. But that is another story for another time.

The moral of the story: There is still hope of avoiding the worst of the effects of the sequester, despite it’s actually being here.

We’ll see what John Boehner, Harry Reid and their compatriots can get done.